


Simply Ivan

by orphan_account



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Alternate Universe - Human, Child Abuse, Child Neglect, F/M, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, Parent Death, Underage Drinking, mildly based on a roleplay, mildly based on russian history
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-21
Updated: 2014-02-21
Packaged: 2018-01-13 06:56:34
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,124
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1216819
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Ivan is seven when his father first starts drinking. Well, with any degree of severity, that is. The day before, his mother had smiled at him, and told him he'd have his baby sister when they came home. Well, he had his baby sister, just not his mother. Their car had gotten caught when a motorcyclist had swerved into the next lane."</p>
            </blockquote>





	Simply Ivan

**Author's Note:**

> This is a drabble I wrote last year, that I sort of based on something I was roleplaying at the time, and some heavily veiled references to Russian history.

Ivan is seven when his father first starts drinking. Well, with any degree of severity, that is. The day before, his mother had smiled at him, and told him he'd have his baby sister when they came home. Well, he had his baby sister, just not his mother. Their car had gotten caught when a motorcyclist had swerved into the next lane. The motorcyclist died on impact. Mama died on the way back to the hospital. Papa died on the inside, then. But Natalia, she was fine. Perhaps on the inside, he resented the attention his older sister gave her, just a little. But, when some nameless aunt came to take both Natasha and Katyusha away, he begged to come, clung to his older sister's pant leg, cried and begged some more, but his aunt said a little boy wouldn't fit into her appartment. Really, she couldn't fit him into her heart. Later, when he stares into the mirror at a color version of a photo from thirty years ago, he thinks he knows why.

Ivan is still seven the first time his father hits him. After a week long vodka binge, his father found him, half starved and trembling, and, in the abscence of his sisters, his father beats him. 

When Ivan is thirteen, he has the most amazing teacher ever. No one ever cared quite the way he did. When he asks if he'd like to visit his sisters, he wants him to be his father. No one coukd ever prove that his actual father was the one who shot the gun that killed him, but soon after, the two of them fly away to America, his father with a bottle in his hand, Ivan with his sister's scarf tucked around his neck. He doesn't cry when they leave Russia, his eyes are only leaking.

Later, in the summer, his father finds an old house for sale, and they move to Georgia. His father, who was only a minor officer in the Russian army, becomes a major in the U.S. army when he saves an entire platoon in Iraq. His father hires a housekeeper, but she's more for keeping him, not the house. She takes care of her own son, and her two nephews, all the while, so he tries to stay out of her hair. 

When he goes into highschool for the first time, he is terrified. After the first hour, he's just miserable. After accidentally trying to open a jock's locker instead of his, he, and his brand new black eye have to make do. 

Later, when he bumps into the same jock's brother, (Literally. He was sure he was going to be pounded into the ground, they looked so similiar.) he learns that his name is Alfred. His brother, Matt, is the nicest person he's ever met. When Matt invites him to come to a hockey practice, he really doesn't need to think about it.

The next year, Toris, who's now a junior, watches Alfred beat him up. When he gets home, he locks himself in his room, and doesn't come out for a week. When he does, it's only because his father's finally come home. 

When he turns sixteen, Toris gets a boyfriend. He is angrier than he should be, has any right to be, but he doesn't care. Feliks is an idiot, and he makes no effort to conceal his feelings about Toris being gay. When Feliks cheats on him at one of Alfred's parties, he smiles and tells him "I told you so."  
It isn't mature, but it makes him feel better. Later, Toris' mother quits, and they all move out. The house is empty again.

When Matthew starts hanging out with Lars, he loses his only friend. He's angry. He's upset. He's lonely, and bitter, and stubbornly refuses to drop his accent. He also stubbornly ignores the liquor cabinet, at least until he sees an ad for a dating site. Then, the vodka becomes his ever present, nightly companion.

It takes people six months to realize that he's not quite okay. It comes when Matthew, late, but well intentioned, tries to call him. He ignores the call, mostly because he's lying on the floor in a pool of his own vomit, and Matt comes over to apologize in person. He ends up having to apologize by calling him an ambulance.  
When the doctors see the scars, they call child services. He doesn't care. His father is in Afghanistan. His aunt is in Russia. He's got no one, but he's got his vodka.

When he gets out of the hospital, they send him to rehab. For the first time in months, he cares. When he finally sobers up, he's just as lonely and isolated as he was when he started drinking. His aunt and his sisters come to visit him, the day before they let him out of the clinic. Katyusha is twenty, with short hair, and a chest that attracts the attention of all the guards. If looks could kill, he would be going to jail, instead of going home. As he glares at them, Katya hugs him and cries. Natalia is ten years old, with long hair and a pretty face. She clutches a photo of him, at sbout fifteen, to her chest. When she sees him, her face softens, and she bounds up to him as readily as Katya did. Between the two of them, and his aunt, who stands guiltily to the side, he actually has a family again. And, at seventeen, with grades that were very good, he manages to get a GED. When he goes back to Russia, he goes to university, and studies. He dotes on Natasha, and all of Katya's boyfriends go through him. By the time he's twenty, he's kicked the shit out of quite a few of them. 

When he gets out of school, he works towards becoming an astrophysicist. Natasha thinks he's a genius. He just enjoys the work.  
He plays hockey on the weekends, and, while packing up his gear, he meets Anya. She's a figure skater, and she gives him her number. He calls her three days later, although he wanted to call sooner.  
On her birthday, he meets her father. He actually approves of him. They get engaged in February. She invites him to watch her skate, and he falls in love all over again.  
When Anya comes back from the doctor, he doesn't ask for a boy. He kisses her instead. He thinks to himself, "This is what normal people do," and when Dmitri is born, he is the proudest father in the world. He is not his father. He is no longer the General's son. He is simply Ivan.


End file.
